Computing devices are routinely used at work, at home, and everywhere else. Computing devices advantageously enable electronic communication, data sharing (e.g., documents, pictures, music, film, etc.), the use of application-specific software, and access to information for electronic commerce through the Internet and other computer networks. The term computing device generally refers to desktop computers, laptop computers, servers, mobile computing devices (e.g., personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell-phones, etc.), as well as any other type of computer system. A computing device typically includes many components such as processors, memory, disk drives, as well as many other types of electronic devices, electromechanical devices, and mechanical devices.
A huge market exists for disk drives, and in particular, hard disk drives (HDDs) for mass-market computer systems such as servers, desktop computers, laptop computers, and mobile computers. To be competitive in this market, a hard disk drive should be relatively inexpensive, and should accordingly embody a design that is adapted for low-cost mass production. Further, there exists substantial competitive pressure to continually develop hard disk drives that have increasingly higher storage capacity and that provide for faster access to data. Satisfying these competing constraints of low-cost, high capacity, and rapid access requires innovation in each of numerous components and methods of assembly and testing HDDs.
Typically, the main assemblies of a hard disk drive are a head disk assembly (“HDA”) and a printed circuit board assembly (“PCBA”). The HDA typically includes at least one magnetic disk (“disk”), a spindle motor for rotating the disk, and a head stack assembly (“HSA”) that includes a head with at least one transducer for reading and writing data. The HSA is controllably positioned by a servo system in order to read or write information from or to particular tracks on the disk. The typical HSA has three primary portions: (1) an actuator assembly that moves in response to the servo control system; (2) a head gimbal assembly (“HGA”) that extends from the actuator assembly and biases the head toward the disk; and (3) a flex cable assembly that provides an electrical interconnect with minimal constraint on movement. The PCBA typically includes signals for processing signals and controlling operations.
After the HDA and the PCBA are mated, the disk drive must undergo a variety of tests and procedures to configure and validate the proper operation of the disk drive. Such testing is often carried out in a disk drive test platform system that includes a bank of cells into which the disk drives are loaded and unloaded. A sequential series of tests and procedures are then carried out on the loaded disk drives. Some of the test and procedures are subject to strict environmental control requirements. Typically, the disk drives remain in the same cell during the administration of an entire sequence of tests (e.g., servo writing, microcode testing, etc), and are removed in batch only at the conclusion of the sequence of tests.
However, during testing, power trips may occur to the disk drive test system disrupting the testing of disk drives. Unfortunately, if a power trip occurs, oftentimes the disk drives fail the testing process and cannot recover due to firmware and/or software issues. The firmware and/or software issues for the disk drives have to resolved and the disk drives re-tested. This has become a major setback in the disk drive manufacturing process. Due to the increasing testing demands for disk drives and the number of disk drives that are attempted to be manufactured and tested each day, power trips that occur to disk drive test systems result in huge manufacturing losses in terms of both costs and delay time.
Accordingly, improved techniques to increase the reliability of testing with disk drive test systems, such as resolving disk drive testing downtime due power trips, are continuously sought after.